


there are rules and there strictures

by bicroft



Series: SidGeno Tumblr Prompts [5]
Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Royalty, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-11
Updated: 2017-05-11
Packaged: 2018-10-30 16:11:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10880343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bicroft/pseuds/bicroft
Summary: Sidney was not meant for sitting in a tower.





	there are rules and there strictures

**Author's Note:**

> "booklover912 asked: Hey I heard you were doing sid/geno prompts! Could you do a prince!sidney and knight/guard!geno au? I really love royalty fics and I think they are so cute!! Please and thank you! ❤️"
> 
> another tumblr crosspost, from @sidsknee

Sidney was not meant for sitting in a tower. 

He’d been there for three years, six months, ten days, and thirteen hours- give or take a few minutes, of course; it wasn’t like Sidney was _counting_ or anything- and he still hadn’t gotten used to the restless feeling that came with being cooped up in the same small room all the time. 

He’d worked out a routine, of course, of chores, and exercise, and studying, so that he wouldn’t be woefully out of shape or out of touch when his prince or whatever came for him, but there were only so many squats a boy could do before he lost his mind. 

He’d just finished his last rep of crunches when he heard commotion from somewhere outside his window. That was odd in and of itself, because commotion usually didn’t reach so high unless it was birds or wayward broomsticks. Sidney stood and walked over to his window to open it, only to immediately be thrown back as something- some _one_ tumbled through it. 

“ _Fuck_ ,” the someone declared, as soon as he hit the floor. Or, Sidney assumed he was a man; his voice was muffled because of his knight’s helmet, which had fallen shut over his face. “Fucking _tower_.” 

“I beg your pardon?” Sidney said, because he may live in a tower now, but he had sixteen years of good royal breeding that had instilled him with the propriety only to curse in his head. 

The man stood, brushing himself off a little before he removed his helmet. That seemed to be the only armor he was wearing, which struck Sidney as a little odd, but he was distracted soon enough by the handsome face the man had revealed when he took the helmet off. He wasn’t _classically_ handsome, maybe- not like the other princes Sid had used to hang around with. Sid had never really seen what made them so good looking, anyway; the man standing in front of him was much more his type, and the crookedness of his smile made Sidney’s stomach do flips. 

“You Prince Crosby?” the man asked, voice no longer muffled and accent more evident. If Sidney recalled correctly, his accent was Rus in origin; he’d travelled along way to Scotia, then: Rus was on the complete opposite side of Enaychel. 

“Sidney, yes.” he said, trying to give his most winsome smile in return. “Prince Sidney, the First of his name, of the Kingdom of Scotia. And, who might you me.” 

“Evgeni, but, friends call Zhenya, or Geno.” the man said. Sid blinked at him when no further title was forthcoming. 

“And, you’re here because…?” Sidney asked, pressing on. 

Evgeni looked blankly at him for a second, as if he’d forgotten, before his face lit up again. “Save! Come to save you.” he said. “Or, at least, see if I can.”

Sidney’s heart _leapt._  “Really?” he asked, unable to keep himself from sounding just as eager as he felt. “Well- if that’s the case, I’m definitely more than willing to let you.” 

“Good,” Evgeni beamed. “You need take anything?” 

“Not really,” Sid said. He’d had a go-bag packed since his second day in the tower, figuring that it always did good to be prepared. “I just need one bag, so.” 

“Works for me.” Evgeni shrugged, and then started scanning the tower. “Where’s door?” 

Sidney blinked at him. “I’m sorry, where’s what?” 

“Door.” Evgeni repeated, looking at him like he was crazy. “You know, door? Door out?”

“There’s no _door_  in here.” Sidney said. “If there was a door, do you _really_  think I’d still be here?”

“How you supposed to get out of tower with _no door_?” Evgeni asked, eyes wide with panic. 

“You mean you didn’t have a _plan_  to get out?” Sidney shot back, starting to panic a little himself. 

“I have plan!” Evgeni said. “Plan is _leave through door_ \- who make tower with no door? How you even get up here, with no door?” 

“There _was_ a door,” Sidney admitted. “They just sealed it, when they put me up here.” 

“Stupid idea.” Evgeni said, pouting a little, and Sidney might have thought it was a little cute if he wasn’t coming to terms with the fact that his supposed rescue hadn’t thought of a proper way to get them out. 

“I’m going to die here.” he whispered, mostly to himself, and Evgeni rolled his eyes. 

“No one _die_.” he said. “We just… need new plan. You have rope?”

Sidney glared at him. “Again: do you think I’d still be here if I had any way to get out?” 

“We make rope, then.” Evgeni said, nodding. He went over to Sid’s bed, and started pulling the sheets off.

“ _Hey!”_ Sidney squawked. “What are you _doing_?”

“Make rope.” Evgeni said, as if it were obvious. “Tie together sheets, blankets, we maybe have enough to reach ground.”

“Do you have any idea how far up we are?” Sidney asked, a little hysterical. “I don’t think my bedsheet are going to cover it.” 

“We find more things to use.” Evgeni hummed, sounding far too pleased with this _stupid_  idea. He flopped down on the floor, and patted the spot beside him. “Sit. I cut, you tie.” 

“You are _not_ cutting my sheets up.” Sidney hissed, sitting down next to him, but it was too late. Sidney felt a headache starting to form behind his eyes. 

“So,” Evgeni said conversationally, handing Sidney’s sheet to him and gesturing for him to tie it onto the end of the fitted sheet, as if he hadn’t heard him at all. “Why you in here, anyway?” 

“You don’t know?” Sidney asked. Evgeni had known his name, which he assumed was because he read his story. His father had let Sidney read it on his sixteenth birthday, before they sent him away to be put up here. Evgeni shook his head. “Well… it’s… tradition, I guess? It was prophesied a long time before I was born. I was going to be born, and then when I turned sixteen, my family was going to put me here until a prince came to save me.” 

“Yes, but _why_?” Evgeni asked. Sidney stared at him, and Evgeni frowned. “They just put you up here because old story say so?” 

Sidney paused. “They… my family said it would be a good way to get me someone to marry.” he said, and that must not have been the right thing to say, because Evgeni’s frown only got deeper. “It’s a good thing, really!” he promised, even though he didn’t believe that at all. “It’s not like I was going to get any suitors any other way.” 

“Why not?” Evgeni asked, and really, this was far too many questions for Sidney to answer when he hadn’t been talking to anyone but lost witches and birds for the past three years. 

“People said I was… difficult.” he said carefully, fingering the now frayed edges of his sheets and not looking Evgeni in the eye. “I learned all the manners, what to say and what to do, but… it never felt right? A lot of people said I acted like some kind of automaton who was programmed to act like a real prince instead of a human being.” Sidney frowned, fingers clenching in his sheets as he explained. 

“I’m not think you’re robot.” Evgeni said, putting his hand over Sidney’s and smiling at him. “Seem nice.”

“You’ve only known me for like twenty minutes.” Sidney huffed, but, he let go of the sheet and looked back up at Evgeni with a smile. 

“I get to know you better when we not stuck in tower.” Evgeni said, sticking his tongue out at Sidney and making him laugh. “Go get curtains; we’re need more rope than this.”

“What about you, then?” Sid asked as he stretched to pull down his curtains. He took the rod down with them, but, he figured it wasn’t going to matter than much, if things worked out the way he hoped they would. “Where are you from, why are you here?”

“Me?” Evgeni paused, and then shrugged. “Not much to tell. From Rus- Magnitogorsk, far from capital. Come look for adventure, hear about prince locked in tower. I’m figure no one _want_ to be locked in tower, so, I come to get you.” 

Sidney frowned as he sat down beside Evgeni again, and passed him the curtains. “What about your family?” 

“Still in Magnitogorsk- father and brother work in mines, mother makes dresses.” Evgeni hummed, and then it hit Sidney what that meant. 

“You’re… not a prince, then?” he said, trying not to sound disappointed- because he _wasn’t_ , really, but… the prophecy had always been meant so that he could find a prince to marry, and without that- Sidney sighed, and shook his head, sitting back.

“Not royal, no.” Evgeni said slowly. “But… knight close enough, yes?” 

Sidney blinked. “You’re a _knight_?” Evgeni seemed to sweet, to easy to smile to be a knight- especially a knight from Rus. Sidney had had to deal with royal enovys from Rus several times when he still lived in the castle, and he couldn’t recall ever seeing their knights look anything other than stoic or bored. 

Evgeni nodded, obviously proud of himself. “Get sent on quest,” he said. “Not for you, but, looking for someone else- send message to kingdom of Montreal. Have to go through Scotia to get there, so, I’m find town close to tower- and, then, hear story, and… think maybe is time you get out.” 

“I… really don’t think I’m supposed to leave with anyone who isn’t a prince.” Sidney said slowly, and Evgeni’s face fell. 

“You really sit here for years and year, wait for prince to _maybe_ come, all because… what?” Evgeni asked. “What happen, after prince?”

“I get to go home.” Sidney said. “Take my place as heir to the throne again, unite my kingdom and his.” 

“They send you away, Sidney.” Evgeni said. “You _really_ want go back to kingdom where people all just say mean things about you?”

Sidney had… really never thought about it. It was true, that most of the reason he was here was because of what his own people thought of him, and he was sure that, as soon as he was gone, they’d started training his sister to take the throne, even with as young as she was. Taylor had always been loved by their people, and even when she was little, had always fit the royal bill far better than Sidney ever had. 

“Not really,” he sighed, finally. “But, it’s my duty, isn’t it?” 

“Not duty to ask you to sit in tower and be lonely forever, no.” Evgeni huffed, pulling the final knot of their rope tight, and standing. 

“What about you, then?” Sidney said, slowly rising with him. 

“ _My_ duty is to deliver message, and go back to Rus.” Evgeni said. “But, no one ever said I couldn’t save princes along way- and, if you wanted to… could come back to Rus with me.” 

“My Rus is kind of rusty.” Sidney said, but, he was smiling a little. “And, I don’t know that anyone would like me more there than they did at home.” 

“Who care about other people?” Evgeni snorted. “ _I’m_ like you, and that’s what matter. Come with me.” 

Sidney bit his lip, and stared at Evgeni for a long moment. “… Do you think they’d maybe let me train, as a knight?” he asked. He’d, of course, been through the majority of his training while he was still living in the castle, and that had been one of the only aspects of royal life that he’d ever excelled at. 

Evgeni’s smile was the brightest Sidney had ever seen. “I’m sure.” he said as he started to push Sidney’s wardrobe closer to the window, and tied their rope onto it. “Never know if you don’t come, though.” 

Sidney was quiet again. Evgeni was no prince, that much was true, but-

But, Sidney had lived his whole life based on a prophecy that was written ages before he was even born, had spent three years locked in a tower, and was realizing that maybe he’d never really lived his life at all. Evgeni wasn’t a prince, yes, and he was a _stranger_ \- a stranger who could very well be lying to Sidney about everything- but he was offering Sidney a chance to live his life, and that was more than anyone else had ever given him. 

“Alright.” Sidney said, moving over and grabbing his go-bag from the corner. “Alright, Evgeni of Rus. Get me out of here.” 

“Zhenya or Geno, I’m tell you.” Evgeni huffed. “Friends call me that- and, we’re going to be good friends, yes?”

Sidney smiled. “Sid.” he said, and Evgeni- Geno- looked at him a little oddly. “If I’m calling you by your nicknames, you call me by mine: Sid.” He hadn’t had anyone other than Taylor call him that in his life, but, he’d grow to love hearing Geno say it.

“Sid.” Geno said, and Sidney could already tell he was right. Geno smiled and nodded. “Alright, Sid-” He threw their rope out the window, and looked down. Somehow, they’d made it long enough for it to almost reach the ground- Sidney chalked it up to magic, and didn’t question it. “Trust me, Sid?” 

“I think I do.” Sidney laughed, and Geno grinned like a madman as he lowered himself over the side of Sidney’s window, and started climbing. 

Sidney waited until he’d safely hit the ground to start climbing himself, hefting his bag high on his shoulder and not looking back once. 

Sidney had never been meant for sitting in a tower.

**Author's Note:**

> (if anyone was wondering Enaychel is pronounced NHL, and also... now i wanna write more of this.)


End file.
